“We cannot continue on the path of the past,” said Congressman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn) said June 17 in La Grange, Ill., during a discussion with local lawmakers.
The discussion, which focused on transportation needs for the Chicago region, the 2009 Transportation Bill and its impact on the Chicago area, incorporated the large amount of area transit users. In Chicago, there are 800 million transit trips a year, Oberstar said. That number is growing at a rate of 9-10% a year. The high increase in transit trips will be a focal point of the bill, he said.